NFL hopes sunk by Limbaugh's own wordsChecketts had to remove him to save group’s bid

JOHN McCLAIN, Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle |
October 16, 2009

There was no way Rush Limbaugh was going to be approved to be a partner in any NFL ownership group.

Dave Checketts was foolish to include the conservative talk show host in his group in the first place. How Checketts actually could think they had a prayer of being approved to buy the St. Louis Rams is beyond me.

Limbaugh should send thank-you notes to everyone — from Checketts to those who blasted his bid and contributed to his ouster from the partnership. He received an incredible amount of publicity over a weeklong period. That attention should have spiked his ratings, elevated his popularity and increased his support among Dittoheads everywhere.

In the interest of fairness, let me say this: Limbaugh couldn't do a worse job than many of the NFL owners are doing. I've never seen so many horrible teams this early in a season.

Owners will approve possible owners who don't know squat about football. Owners will approve possible owners whose ignorance and ineptness cause the league unbelievable embarrassment. Owners will approve possible owners who want Venus and Serena, Fergie and J-Lo as partners.

But owners ain't going to approve a possible owner who is on record as making racially insensitive comments in a sport that is almost 80 percent black.

Final approval

Limbaugh's love of sports, his wealth and his knowledge of the NFL had nothing to do with him being forced out of the Checketts group, one of four to six groups that have shown interest in purchasing the Rams.

Here's the way NFL ownership works: When the Rams' owners, Chip Rosenbloom and sister Lucia Rodriguez, get an offer they like from a group they like, they'll accept it. Then that offer is presented to the NFL for scrutiny.

Twenty-four of 32 owners would have had to vote for Checketts' bid for it to be approved. If the group had been turned down, another group would have to be accepted by Rosenbloom and Rodriguez, who inherited the Rams from their late mother, Georgia Frontiere, after her death last year.

Even though a lot of NFL owners probably think Limbaugh is a prince of a fellow because he's a wealthy Republican who leans almost as far to the right as they do, they won't admit it because many of their employees — the ones who put money in their wallets — have been the target of his diatribes.

Limbaugh, a Missouri native who used to work in marketing for the Kansas City Royals, said last week that if their group was able to buy the Rams, he and Checketts would operate the team.

Checketts disputed that claim, insisting that Limbaugh would be a minor partner — in other words, a silent partner — with no say in anything about the operation of the team. It's difficult to imagine Limbaugh being silent on anything.

Off the team

Checketts asked Limbaugh to withdraw, but he refused, so Checketts had to dump him. Limbaugh blamed the usual suspects ranging from the liberal media to Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith and President Obama's administration.

Among other things, Limbaugh claimed he had been a victim of the negotiating war for a new collective bargaining agreement between the players and owners.

The truth is that Limbaugh had no one to blame but himself.

A potential owner can't say publicly things like, “The NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons.”

The Bloods and Crips, of course, are rival gangs in Los Angeles.

Or, a potential NFL owner can't say something like, “I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well.”

Limbaugh was talking about Philadelphia quarterback Donovan McNabb, seeming to forget that black quarterbacks had been succeeding in the NFL for a couple of decades.

Like the rest of us, Limbaugh is entitled to say anything he wants. Sometimes, though, your words can kill you. In this case, his words killed his attempt to own a piece of an NFL franchise.

John McClain can be heard on 610 AM at 8:30 a.m. Monday, 7:30 a.m. Wednesday and 4:30 p.m. Friday.